Only we make beautiful things just to destroy them

After the exhibition “La Gravedad de Los Asuntos
(Matters of Gravity)”
The Mexicans and the Russians were always in on it
This is collaboration in zero gravity democracy
—blurry violet lights and no clear answer
This is a nuclear glow in the dark so we can start over
We board planes to Mars and six engines fire
You spin away. It’s candy guts out here—all our voting machines are breaking
You tumble and can’t stop, but
Grab a harness—an adult pigtail
Six plane engines click on and your homie has to
Push you so you can swing at the exploding star
A way of thinking, una estructura doblada
Alguien cortó oropel azul en cuadritos
And stuffed it into the piñata. A yellow paleta
Big as a chicken, floats to the right hand corner and balances
Tipping into the comrade’s hands
What’s a layer of confetti and candy compared to DDT
The kind you sprayed over all our naked bodies
We’re diamonds: hard, shiny, and we
Get processed to go through
We don’t infest, pendejo. We invest
There goes your friend again, diving toward
The paleta, which has to be pineapple flavor
We were always in on it together
Me and my honey watch a video on loop
We gently hold each other like the beach balls we are
The light dims and that constellation swings
Only one Russian cosmonaut will smile at a time
They watch a compa swim away
Reach out
Don’t make someone else do your work for you
Some of us were grounded
The whole time

About This Poem

“The video installation that inspired this poem shows engineers from Russia and artists from Mexico floating in the belly of a plane in zero gravity (of course someone brought a piñata). My poem tries to remind us that as our countries are built on shameful acts of violence against the most vulnerable—the unarmed, the queer, children, refugees fleeing violence we fueled—we need to find and activate our allies. People have endured broken voting systems, survived being sprayed with DDT to enter the country, and much more, yet we must celebrate and keep surviving. The poem instructs us to get up, to do our work, and get between speech and harm.”
—Vickie Vértiz

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